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“I am genuinely sorry that my attendance at an event which, other than my comments, appears to have primarily involved a discussion of cockfighting, has created concern on the part of many Kentucky voters,” Bevin said in a statement. “I understand that concern.

“I am not and have never been, a supporter of cockfighting or any other forms of animal cruelty.”

The Kentucky Republican’s statement did not address whether he was previously aware that the event was a cockfighting rally before or during his appearance, a notable omission because of accusations from the McConnell camp that Bevin lied about his appearance. Bevin has said that he didn’t know he was speaking at a cockfighting rally after the video surfaced of his speech at the gathering.

McConnell, the Senate minority leader, accused his primary challenger earlier Friday of lying about his participation at the rally, citing a local news report that shows Bevin being asked directly about cockfighting.

“Matt Bevin’s cockfighting episode will go down in history as one of the most disqualifying moments in Kentucky political history,” McConnell spokeswoman Allison Moore said in a statement. “Twenty years from now, we will all remember the time when the East Coast con-man thought so little of Kentuckians that he pathologically lied to us about absolutely everything until an undercover camera caught him red-handed at a cockfighting rally.”

According to a local news report broadcast Thursday, Bevin appeared as the second speaker at a March 29 rally on cockfighting. According to the report, the first speaker referred to the rally as being for the “sole purpose of legalizing gamecock fight at the state level.”

The McConnell release quotes a local news report in which Bevin said, “I was the first person to speak and then I left.”

Cockfighting is illegal in Kentucky.

According to the report, Bevin did not mention cockfighting in his speech, but was asked a direct question after his remarks about legalizing cockfighting. In response to that question, Bevin said, “I support the people Kentucky exercising their right because it is our right to decide what it is we want to do and not the federal government’s. Criminalizing behavior, if it’s part of the heritage of this state, is in my opinion a bad idea.”

After his appearance, Bevin said he didn’t know it was a cockfighting rally. “When I spoke, obviously I was there to talk about why I’m running for U.S. Senate.”

When the interviewer mentioned the speech on cockfighting before his remarks, Bevin said he didn’t remember the earlier speech talking about cockfighting and was thinking about his own remarks.